Fuji Heavy Industries Delays Plans for Subaru Jet

Despite the display of a scale model of the Subaru light business jet concept as recently as the Farnborough Air Show in July, Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) has apparently shelved its plans to follow in the footsteps of fellow Japanese car maker Honda in producing a business jet. “Under our mid-term business plan, we aim to increase sales from the aerospace business to 200 billion yen and start to develop the Subaru Jet within 10 years,” FHI said. “However, the aerospace company will not use resources from other FHI businesses to ensure that the program is viable from the start. Therefore, it makes sense to proceed with the program only after the aerospace business becomes more profitable.” In the meantime, FHI plans to join Mitsubishi’s regional jetliner (MRJ) team. FHI will contribute engineering support and might eventually produce wings and other major components for the new 70- to 90-seat regional jet, which is expected to start testing in 2011 and enter service in 2013. Currently, FHI’s aerospace division supplies the main wing section for the Eclipse 500 very light jet, wings for the Hawker 4000 and major components for the Boeing 777 and 787 Dreamliner.